I am painting an SU-85M and I have been told that the Russians sometimes did not use primer. I want the base coat to be that shiny brown worn color often seen on heavy equipment that is used often. Does anyone have any recommendations, I am trying to reproduce that "old" bare steel color. The best I can describe it is slightly pitted brown and is a bit buff and shiny. I'm not looking for the typical "dry" flaky type rust found on exhaust, more the rust found on heavy machinery that is used often.
My goal is to paint Russian green, use the salt technique, and have this "brown" show through in spots. Sorry for the long post. Steve

Hi Steve

I don't often model armour, but I may have got something like the effect while trying to paint a/c exhausts.

I painted the pieces all over with steel, than applied a wash of translucent sepia ink. It tinted the parts and also added definition around details. More coats for greater effect. {You could then dry brush with base colour for highlights.} Finally, I sealed it with a flat coat.

It might give the colour you're after.

All the best

Rowan

I'm fond of using enamel color.
Usually I paint the parts with enamel aluminium / steel as the base. Then before the paint fully dried , I will drybrush it using rust color ( Revell)
This will give me the brownish steel color.